


A Day In the Life

by bravest_person_in_Wonderland



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Gen, I didn’t get to see the new years special and this is how I'm coping, No beta we die like mne, Post-Episode: s12e05 Fugitive of the Judoon, Probably ooc, Self-Indulgent, i just need more Menzies content, if you read this thank you, plz mr finish, plz ms hope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:48:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28719897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bravest_person_in_Wonderland/pseuds/bravest_person_in_Wonderland
Summary: Patricia Menzies gets an unfamiliar-yet-familiar visitor, plus a really weird situation.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor & Patricia Menzies
Comments: 8
Kudos: 4





	A Day In the Life

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea why I'm even posting this, I don't even really like this fic... I just braindumped into a note on my phone and it happened? I feel like it's really OOC tbh, so uh... I promise most of my writing is tons better than this, and I'm sorry for how bad this is. Hopefully someone will like it?

"I'm looking for DI Menzies," says an unfamiliar voice outside, in the reception area. "I dunno if she's still around here, but-" 

"I am," Menzies says, walking out. "Who are you and what can I do for you?" 

Professionalism apparently is out the window, because the strange woman with blond hair and a trench coat -- god, almost like someone Menzies once knew, that's weird -- grabs her in a sudden hug, and Menzies is stuck exchanging confused glances with the guy behind the reception desk. On some level it makes sense, though, as she pushes the lady off her and sizes her up. 

Yep, very blonde, but not naturally. Menzies can see darker roots at the top of her head. Big sparkly brown eyes, gazing at her with a level of excitement that makes her want to groan. Stripy shirt, weird pants, oversized grey trench coat, and even weirder boots. Menzies doesn't know how, but nothing surprises her anymore. The only person she knows who would dress like that is- 

"Doctor?" 

The woman bounces on her toes with a grin. "Got it in one!" She exclaims, and Menzies notes that she's got a thick Yorkshire accent. 

"What... the actual hell." She glances at the receptionist again and gestures for the... Doctor... to come back into the much more private hallway. 

"Regeneration," the Doctor says smartly, like this is absolutely normal. "Time Lords change bodies occasionally, all a part of the natural order." She shrugs, still grinning. 

"Natural order. Sure. Okay." 

It's not that it's actually that surprising. Menzies has had enough experience with aliens and stuff at this point that nothing actually really fazes her. It's why that Kate Stewart lady won't leave her alone about the UNIT initiative or whatever, and it's why, despite the shock of seeing the Doctor again -- as a lady, no less -- she's not actually all that shaken. Just another day as Patricia Menzies, she thinks with an internal eye-roll. 

She leads the Doctor to her office and shuts the door. 

"Alright," she sighs, mentally preparing herself for... whatever it is this time. "What's going on now?" 

The Doctor just blinks those new, very young-looking brown eyes at her and tilts her head. "Uhh... not actually much," she says. "Just wanted to visit an old friend." 

The sudden shadow in her eyes, the way her voice sounds just a tiny bit less certain, less overexcited, isn't lost on Menzies. Something's happened, probably recently, but it's not like she can just _ask,_ "hey, Doc, everything alright, you looked a bit sad just there." Well, she could if she wanted to, or if she was prepared to have that kind of discussion, but nope. Not her thing. And heaven knows that the Doctor can be like a steel trap when they want to be, so it's unlikely that anything would even come of it. 

"Okay," Menzies says instead. "I got time, it's a slow day." And thank God for that, because between the Stewart lady's attempt at getting her to join this now-covert agency-whatever, and the usual cases -- plus one investigation that had led to a shootout with some kind of malicious rhino-thing -- she's had quite a week of it. "How long's it been? For you, I mean." 

The Doctor scrunches up her face and looks to be counting on her fingers. Then she gives Menzies a sheepish look. "Lost count," she says. "But it's been... a long, long time." 

There's that flash of shadow again. If Menzies didn't know better -- quite honestly, she actually _didn't_ know better -- it looks a bit like anxiety, or sadness, or both. Apparently the Doctor’s picked up a bit of angst in the "long, long time" since they last met when she was a tall, curly-haired prig in a patchwork coat. 

"Got any friends travelling with you, this time 'round?" Menzies asks, partly from curiosity -- wondering what happened to Charley, or that nice old lady who she met the last time, Evelyn -- and partly from the niggling sense of concern in the back of her mind. The other Doctor she had known had always had a solemn streak, a bit of worry, but there was something _dark_ about this one, well-hidden by her boisterousness and cheer, that made Menzies feel like it wouldn't be good for anyone for this Doctor to be alone. 

The Doctor hesitates. "Yeah, I do," she eventually says. "Not full-time, they've got lives of their own too. That's where they are right now, actually. Their... lives. Yeah." 

Is she lying? Maybe not about having friends, but about the "that's where they are right now" part. This time, Menzies can't let it slide. 

"You alright?" 

"Me? Oh, yeah. I'm great!" She gives that cheery grin again, but now Menzies can see through it. 

"No, really." Menzies doesn't _do_ heart-to-hearts, but she finds herself saying the next words anyway: "You seem lonely." 

The Doctor quiets for a long moment, and Menzies can hear the ticking of the wall clock behind her. She counts twelve seconds before the Doctor looks directly at her again and suddenly the facade of happiness falls, and she looks... Worn. Tired. A little bit afraid. For some reason, it reminds Menzies of the way Charley had looked the last time she'd seen her. 

She never had figured out exactly what was up with Pollard, but she knew it had something to do with the time travel stuff. It was probably weird, way beyond Menzies' ability to make sense of, but sometimes she still wondered. It had worried her, at times, because the girl was so secretive, and so _bad_ at being secretive, that it was almost suspicious. She had a heart of gold, though, whatever was up with her. Menzies wondered what happened to her, sometimes, or if she would ever see her again. 

That same trepidation that Menzies had seen in Charley now fills the Doctor’s attitude. Neither of them says anything, Menzies waiting and the Doctor apparently thinking hard. Eventually she blinks and puffs a short sigh. 

"You got any tea?" She asks. "We're gonna need it." 

Five minutes later the two of them are seated back in Menzies' office, but now they each have a cuppa, and Menzies is sitting on her desk instead of the chair. Rather informal, yeah, but this _is_ the Doctor, so what does it matter? The Doctor stands in front of her, apparently unable to sit for this explanation. 

"I met me," she says, shifting from foot to foot. 

"Uh... okay." Menzies knows better than to question that. On some level, it makes sense, because of the time travel and the... body-changing thing. But still. Weird. 

"It's a long story and I don't want to explain it all because that would take ages," the Doctor continues, "But it was really weird." 

"I bet," Menzies says dryly. 

The Doctor fidgets, running a thumb around the rim of her mug. "I dunno why I'm telling you this," she admits. "I didn't wanna talk about it to begin with." This is said with a half-glare leveled at Menzies, who shrugs innocently. 

"I've got that kind of face, eh?" 

"No." 

And _there's_ the Doctor Menzies knows. This lady Doctor has a different personality -- she claims it's part of the "regeneration" thing -- but Menzies can still see echoes of the colorful bighead she'd befriended before. The sense of fashion is a bit better, with this girl looking passably normal, if a bit flamboyant, and the emotional literacy is still about on par with Menzies'. That is to say, barely there, which means that this is probably the worst impromptu therapy session ever had, and why on God's green earth is Menzies the one having it with an alien? 

The Doctor stares at her for a few seconds, then snorts, shaking her head. They both chuckle a little bit, sort of awkwardly, but it breaks a little of the tension. Then it's back to the shadowy expression and anxiety as Menzies sips her tea and listens to the Doctor try to explain about this _other_ her who can't _really_ be her because she doesn't remember that and she would never shoot anybody in cold blood and then she goes off on a tangent about some old childhood friend who did some terrible thing that she staunchly refuses to talk about, and honestly? It's all just confusing, but one thing seems to make sense. 

"You having an identity crisis, or something?" Menzies asks, after stopping the Doctor’s rambling with a gesture of her hand. 

"No." The Doctor tilts her head. "Don't think so. I'm me. I know I'm me. I just don't know who that _other_ me is." 

"Yeah, that makes... zero sense." 

"I know," the Doctor says, downing the last gulp of her tea. "It doesn't really matter, either." 

Menzies frowns. "I think it kind of does, actually, since it's obviously bothering you." She knows about what personal issues can do to her officers, she's seen what can happen when someone with important responsibilities becomes compromised. It's never good. 

The Doctor shrugs. "Doesn't matter," she repeats stubbornly. "Anyway," she says, perking back up. "Maybe I'll bring my fam to meet you sometime, Yaz'd love you -- she works for the police too, real passionate about it." 

"Cool," Menzies replies, accepting that the previous conversation is over. It's not like she actually can help, or anything. She's decidedly _not_ a shrink or anything, and whatever it was the Doctor is up against? Out of her depth. "Yeah, come visit again," she says, leading the Doctor back out front. "Let me know if you need help with anything, too." 

The Doctor gives a jaunty two-fingered salute and bounds off, leaving Menzies to try and make sense of anything that had happened in the last thirty minutes. 

"What the hell?" she mutters again, shaking her head, then she shrugs and goes back to work. Not her problem at this point.

**Author's Note:**

> Uhhh... leave a comment if you want? I love comments.


End file.
